Child of the Moon
by A-little-fantasy
Summary: Tsukiko was born with a demon inside her, after the death of her mother she lived with Iruka but his focus remains on Naruto maybe he could show her how to feel or would he destroy her GaaraxOC
1. Chapter 1

Salena stared out her large window as tears began to fall from her eyes, she gripped the large gown she was wearing and looked at the large bump in her stomach, she hated it, she hated the father and she hated herself, she didn't know why she said yes to it, she had no reason to if she had only said no it would be another woman going through was she was. Salena's long hair twisted around her body and then got caught in the tears that were falling from her eyes, they grabbed the hair close and didn't let go until Salena's weak hand gripped it and pulled it away, she must be a horrible mother, she refused to be that.

"Why me, why me! "She shouted, gripping her hair and pulling at it until great clumps of her brown hair came out, more and more tears fell until she was in hysterics.

She gripped the wooden window sill and stood outside in the wind, pain throbbed through her entire body and she jumped, when she hit the ground her body lay crumpled but then she gripped the kunai that was kept in her pocket and she dug it into her stomach in an attempt to pull the child out of her body.

"Get out of me," she screamed, many people heard the shrill voice and ran to see where it was coming from, Salena ripped and tore at her own flesh till the child inside could be seen, footsteps grew louder and then one person appeared.

Salena couldn't see who it was and she didn't want to she lay there until she eventually fell asleep, a dead sleep.

"Well, I must tell you the child had a lucky escape but Salena was going to die in the end anyway, I guess I'll leave it to you to decide what the child should be called," the nurse said leaving the room, Iruka stared at the little girl and then up at his parents.

"I guess we'll call her, Tsukiko, Iruka this is your niece," the young boy stared at her and then looked away again.

"What happened to Auntie Selie?"Iruka asked not looking at the baby girl.

"She's dead Iruka, she died giving birth to this little one here," Iruka was too young to know that they weren't telling the truth so he smiled and looked back at the baby, Iruka then left the room and Kakashi came out of the shadows along with the Hokage.

"Kakashi keep an eye on her please, I don't want anyone to find out about her yet, when Iruka's old enough he'll look after her but until then his parents will do a good job," the Hokage said he peered at the young girl and then walked out the room closely followed by, Kakashi, Mr and Mrs Umino and Itachi.

"No, mum, dad, WHY?" Iruka cried, the new Hokage looked at the young boy, his parents had just been killed by the nine tailed fox demon, next to him lay the week old baby Tsukiko, her eyes remained as blank as the day she was born, his eyes then looked at the baby boy on the other side of Iruka, the baby Naruto container for the nine tailed fox.

"I'm getting too old for this," the man said, he walked over to Iruka and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Iruka, we'll help you two get along but as of what's happened you will look after Tsukiko now, we'll find a carer for Naruto now let's get you home. Kakashi! Please escort Iruka and Tsukiko to their new home."

Kakashi helped Iruka to his house and then left, Iruka pounced on his bed and began to cry again, why him, why him why?


	2. Chapter 2

Tsukiko felt around on her bedside table for her alarm clock, 5:00, she blinked a few times before sitting up, she'd had little to no sleep last night she never really had much sleep what was the point in sleeping, there wasn't a point. She got up off her bed and pulled the covers back up so they were neat, it was quite bright outside so that would mean Iruka would be getting up in the next half an hour or so, grabbing some clothes from her drawers she walked to her bathroom which was connected to her room, she turned the water onto its coldest setting and then got in, she couldn't feel the cold water the demon inside her stopped her body being warm she was constantly cold so she used cold water. After 20 minutes or so she turned the shower off and brushed her hair it was quite long and went part way down her back in a blue colour, parts of it had gone white and black but it was all natural, she then grabbed her clothes skinny black pants and a long sleeved top in white with white designs down it, she couldn't wait to leave academy because then she could wear something a bit more ninja like.

She exited her room making sure to close it and then walked to the main room of the house where her uncle sat reading some notices and drinking coffee, he looked drained obviously he had had another nightmare, often Tsukiko could hear him tossing and turning and on occasions shouting out in the night, he looked up slightly when she entered the room and then looked back down at his work, she simply walked past and took an apple, he didn't really care about her that much, she was nothing to him really. She couldn't feel the pain of not having someone there, she couldn't have any emotions so she just watched the world go by it had nothing to do with her.

"I'll see you at academy Uncle," Tsukiko said and then she left the house without a reply, Iruka sighed and placed the work down and looked at the front door, 'goodbye' he said in his head and then he too began to get ready for work.

Tsukiko walked slowly towards the academy looking around her at all the people opening their shops, she took a detour through the training grounds, in one of the clearing sat a panting Sasuke Uchiha, his hair was wetted lightly by the sweat falling from his hairline. She stood there for a few seconds in slight amusement before his head turned and an obvious glare was flung her way.

"What do you want Umino?" Sasuke spat.

"Nothing, I was just walking to academy, I always come this way," Tsukiko said not even slightly fazed by the anger in Sasuke's voice.

Tsukiko walked past Sasuke and continued to walk to academy, Sasuke also followed but several yards behind her being sure to be quiet so it didn't quite seem like he was following her. When the academy came into view she turned round and looked at Sasuke who stopped sharply.

"Is there any particular reason that you are following me Uchiha?" Tsukiko asked bluntly, he merely blinked and then glared; it seemed like all he could use as a defence was his eye motions.

Tsukiko opened the door to academy and made sure to close it before Sasuke could reach it; Sasuke stood staring at the door blinking lightly before opening the door for him. As he looked round the room he saw Tsukiko sat in her usual seat at the back of the class on her own, no one bothered to sit near her, and to be honest who would want to sit near her. He sat down silently in his usual seat and observed the rest of the class, Tsukiko then looked over at him wondering why he kept staring at her, and he was annoying.

The class seemed pretty silent until Ino and Sakura ran through the door and grabbed Sasuke both of them began to argue over who would get to sit next to him, Tsukiko rolled her eyes at them, all they seemed to spend their time doing was trying to get Sasuke to notice them. It was a waste of time, he didn't want either of them but at least it gave her something to watch in a morning, half an hour after the two screaming girls ran into class Iruka walked in with Naruto tied up.

He was always getting himself into trouble, he was an attention seeker but what she hated most about him was the fact that he always got the attention of her uncle; the one who was supposed to love her but no he spent most of his time looking after Naruto's needs. The rest of the class looked at Naruto in disappointment and from the look on Iruka's face he was going to punish the rest of the class because of Naruto's stupidity.

"Today we are going to review the transformation technique," Iruka said to the class and everyone sighed.

"But sensei we did all this yesterday," Sakura said and Iruka looked at Naruto.

"Well since Naruto thinks it's funny to waste my time it's all we really have time for this morning so all come down here and line up," Iruka said and everyone got up from their seats and lined up.

"Okay, Sakura you're up first," Iruka said checking her name off.

'I hope Sasuke Notices me' Sakura thought as she stepped up she clasped her hands together and in a poof of smoke she had turned perfectly into Iruka who complimented her transformation. Next up was Sasuke who everyone knew was going to transform perfectly, he gripped his hands together and also transformed flawlessly into Iruka.

"Perfect Sasuke, now Naruto your up next," Iruka said and everyone glared at him all muttering about how it was his fault they had such a boring lesson.

"Alright you ready? Here I go," in a poof of smoke he reappeared as a blonde female version of himself with no clothes on and only a whispy bit of smoke to cover him, Iruka fell back with a nosebleed.

"You perv," Tsukiko mumbled at her uncle who quickly got back up and began to shout at Naruto, eventually he resumed with the lesson.

"Tsukiko your up, "Iruka said not really looking up at her.

She pushed her hands together and then there was poof of smoke, as the smoke cleared there stood another perfect copy of Iruka.


	3. Chapter 3

Iruka looked up and checked the box on his notepad, Tsukiko went back to normal and sighed, just once she would like a bit of praise but no, obviously not, as the rest of the class finished the exercise Tsukiko moved back to her seat and eventually all the students were as well. Iruka moved to the centre of the class and grinned.

"Now, tomorrow you will all be tested on your clone jutsu, if you pass you become a genin and get your head band any who fail...better luck next time," Iruka said, as soon as he turned his back the class became lively and loud, people began to move out of the classroom and so Tsukiko followed as she looked behind her she saw Iruka talking to Naruto and so she left and went to get something to eat.

"One miso ramen please," Tsukiko said in a monotone voice, she rested her chin on her arms.

"Well, what do you know," a voice said from behind her, Tsukiko looked and stared at Ibiki.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Tsukiko said puzzled.

"You know every so often I like to get out of my office and wander around a little bit if you get me?" Ibiki said smiling.

"Oh, right. You getting something to eat?" Tsukiko asked looking up at him.

"You bet I am," Ibiki said grinning as he sat down. "So how've you been."

"Okay thanks, I haven't seen you for a good few months don't tell me Iruka kept you away," Tsukiko said playing with her chopsticks.

"No, you just seem to be needing me less and less, I hear you going to become a genin soon, is that true?" Ibiki questioned brightly.

"Yeah, test is tomorrow, and then I'll be a genin," Tsukiko said looking more cheerful.

"Well, I think I'm going to take my miso to go," he said to the man across the counter, who grinned and handed him a small cardboard box. "Good luck Tsukiko!"

Tsukiko turned back to her miso ramen and slowly began to eat savouring each mouth full that she took until her chopsticks hit an empty bowl, she then paid and hopped off her seat, as she walked back to her and Iruka's apartment she looked around her but eventually her eyes landed on Iruka and Naruto at Ichiraku's ramen shelter, Tsukiko looked down and just walked past not noticing that Naruto had turned his head to look at her. She opened the door of the apartment and went straight to the shower, glaring at the wall as best as she could she hit it and a soft white energy came off it. She looked into the bathroom and sighed as she took her clothes off and sat there in the shower letting the water run all over her, she lay there for hours letting her body become cold and numb before she lashed out at the wall next to her, she wanted to feel something anything. There was a loud knocking on her door and Tsukiko quickly turned the shower off and put a nightgown on before opening the door.

"Tsukiko, you've been in that shower too long get some rest for tomorrow," Iruka said bitterly looking down at her, she just lowered her head and closed the door, oh how she longed for those words to hurt her, but they went through her and the empty space where the hurt and love were supposed to be was filled with a need.


	4. Chapter 4

Once again the sun rose far too early for Tsukiko, the smallest inch of light on her face caused her to sit up in alarm, she stared into the mirror at her face and sighed getting ready in her usual way and leaving the house at exactly the same time as she did every other day, as she passed through the living area she noticed Iruka was actually cooking himself some breakfast, he looked up at her as she left the house silently. As she walked through the streets she stopped to look in the odd few shops in hope that she didn't get to the academy early for once, she looked at the many different fruits that were sold and bought a small apple leaving a tip for the old woman who owned the place. She ate the apple slowly taking in the atmosphere and for once felt slightly at peace until she actually decided to look at her watch and realised just exactly how late she was, Tsukiko binned the apple and ran as fast as she could to the academy running in just on time to have her name called for her test. She walked in the room where the sensei's sat and Iruka looked up in disappointment.

"Okay, Tsukiko, I want you to create 3 clones of yourself okay?" Iruka said bored.

"Okay then, clone jutsu," Tsukiko said clasping her hands together and behind her 2 perfect clones appeared and one almost perfect.

"Well done, here's your forehead protector," Iruka said handing it to her, Tsukiko held up hope that Iruka was proud of her and for once actually couldn't wait to get home that night.

As she walked out of the academy she noticed Naruto being the only one who hadn't received his headband, as much as she felt mean that he didn't get in it also meant Iruka would have no need to praise him that evening and so Tsukiko walked past Naruto and walked back to Iruka's without a second thought, but as she did Naruto turned his head and looked at her and then sighed. On her way back home Tsukiko visited Kakashi, his mask formed a nice smile when he saw her.

"Hey, kiddo," Kakashi said patting the seat next to him.

"Hey, Kashi, I got my headband isn't that great," Tsukiko said looking up at him.

"It sure is, i'm sure Iruka's proud of you," at this Tsukiko looked down again.

"I hope so, for once he can't be proud of this other kid in my class," Kakashi frowned at her and bought a drink and set it down in front of her.

"You do know if you ever need me i'm here?" Kakashi said grinning.

"Yeah, I do, I think I better get back, thanks," Tsukiko got up leaving the drink where it was and Kakashi sighed.

'I swear she needs to realise the truth soon'

Tsukiko walked into the apartment and looked at Iruka who was sat down marking some sheets of paper, he didn't look up as she entered the house and Tsukiko kept her head low as she sat down and began to read one of his books, his eyes flicked up to her face when she wasn't looking and his eyes showed great sympathy towards her ans then he continued to mark the work. At about ten that night there was a loud knock on the door and Iruka went to answer it.

"It's Naruto!" the man at the door yelled and Iruka ran out the house, Tsukiko sighed and picked up her bag and followed him across the rooftops in an attempt to find out what the idiotic kid had done this time.

As she jumped across the buildings she eventually lost sight of her uncle and stopped trying to search for him which was when she found Naruto, jumping down next to him he jumped and looked very afraid of her, his eyes glazed over.

"Naruto, what are you doing, you do realise everyone is looking for you dont you?" Tsukiko said and Naruto frowned.

"But I have to become a genin," Naruto yelled to the sky causing Tsukiko to block her ears.

"Naruto, Tsukiko!" another voice yelled it was Iruka who looked furious.

"Hey Iruka, i learnt this totally awesome new trick wanna see?" Naruto asked grinning like a cat.

"What do you think you're doing stealing from the village?" Iruka yelled at him.

"Well...erm...you see Mizuki-sensei said if I was to learn a jutsu from this scroll you would let me become a genin," Naruto babbled but Iruka looked shocked.

"Mizuki!" Iruka yelled.

"What's the matter Iruka?" Mizuki said hopping down from the tree.

"What...what's going on?" Tsukiko asked looking at the two of them.

"Tsukiko, please go back home," Iruka said, keeping his eyes firmly on Mizuki.

Tsukiko looked at him and ran off further into the forest, when she was far enough away she stopped and looked at the clearing and then saw an orange figure running away, Tsukiko looked at him and then stared as Iruka followed, they both stopped a bit away from them and when they stopped Tsukiko ran over, as she got there Iruka was replaced by Mizuki and Naruto by Iruka.

"What?" Tsukiko said confused.

"Tsukiko, I told you go home," Iruka yelled as Mizuki charged at him.

"What's the matter do I need to tell them both the secrets the village keeps from them?" Mizuki laughed evily.

"Don't you dare, not Tsukiko, not her," Iruka yelled tears bursting from his eyes.

"Your a demon child, the child of the moon, why do you think Iruka hates you, your mother committed suicide because of you!" Mizuki yelled.

"No thats not true, she got killed by the nine tailed fox!" Tsukiko said looking down.

"So thats what he told you did he," Mizuki said, Tsukiko looked at Iruka one last time before running off.


	5. Chapter 5

Tsukiko ran out of the forest and back into the village, climbing on top of the Hokage face's and she lay there staring up at the sky letting the truth wash over her, letting the lies bubble into her core, clutching her top and then flinging her hands out against the stone statue, she knelt up and just glared at the floor as best as she could and continued to hit the stone until her own blood poured out which she then just lay in. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what she felt in her hands and only concentrating on that, eventually falling into a deep sleep in which she dreamt only of what had just happened.

Iruka walked back to the apartment hoping that Tsukiko was there but seeing that nothing had changed he turned around and ran off to find Kakashi, finally arriving at his apartment he knocked as loudly and as many times as possible, eventually the sound of the door being unlocked could be heard and a rather messy haired Kakashi opened the door.

"What is so important that you wake me up at this time Iruka?" Kakashi said rubbing his only visible eye sleepily.

"It's Tsukiko, she ran off and she's not at the apartment, I have no idea where she could be, Mizuki told her," Iruka said and Kakashis eye widened.

"Okay, i'll be second," Kakashi disappeared into his own place and arrived back fully dressed. "I'll search the village you notify Ibiki."

Kakashi ran through the village in search of Tsukiko's chakra, eventually feeling it he looked up towards the sky and noticed someone lay on the Hokage memorial, running up as quickly as possible he stared at the blood staining the stone and the looked at the sleeping girl, her eyes flinching as her nightmare continued, he picked her up carefully and ran back to her house placing her neatly on her bed. A few minutes later and Iruka burst through the bedroom door and stared at his niece, his eyes lingered on her battered knuckles and eventually he looked away, behind him stood Ibiki who just turned and walked into the kitchen, soon followed by Iruka and finally Kakashi.

"You do realise what this means don't you Iruka?" Ibiki said as he handed him a cup of tea.

"Yeah, I do, she's going to be monitored by specialists in the village, but, she will continue with her life as a ninja won't she?" Iruka asked, looking at Ibiki's face.

"Yes, as long as nothing happens to put the village in danger her life will proceed as normal," Ibika replied gulping down his drink.

"Ibiki, put her on my team, I realise that there is too many students to have fair 3 man teams," Kakashi said looking up.

"Kakashi you know the rules, I cannot change the teams, i'm sure whatever team she is in the sensei will look after," Ibiki said looking at his now empty cup.

"Well, can't you make an allowance," Iruka blurted out his eyes were practically pleading.

"Iruka, i'm sorry," Ibiki said standing up, he picked up his large coat and walked out.

"Kakashi if you want you can stay the night, I want to keep an eye on Tsukiko," Iruka sighed getting up.

"Iruka, get some sleep, i'll keep an eye on her," Kakashi looked at Iruka sympathetically as he went to his own room to sleep, Kakashi walked into Tsukiko's room to see her sat up in her bed staring blankly at the wall.

"Tsukiko are you okay?" Kakashi asked sitting on the end of her bed.

"Yeah, I guess so, but, why? why did Iruka lie to me?" Tsukiko said shaking her head and looking down.

"We had to keep it a secret, it's not something you really needed burdening you," Kakashi whispered softly.

"But...nevermind," Tsukiko mumbled looking down at her hands.

"Don't worry, things will be fine now I suggest you get some sleep before you find out whose team your on tomorrow," Kakashi said grinning.

"Okay, and Kakashi?" Tsukiko said slowly.

"Yes?"

"Why do you wear that silly mask you look better without it?" Tsukiko questioned.

"Because it makes me mysterious," Kakashi answered amused, he got up and sat in the corner of her room and Tsukiko turned to sleep, however Tsukiko did not sleep she lay awake, in almost fury, awaiting the next day to come.

As the sun shone into Tsukiko's room Kakashi got up and left allowing her to also rise and shower, her knuckles stung for a while but nothing that was unbearable, finally clean Tsukiko bandaged her hands and got ready, walking into the main room she saw Kakashi and Iruka sat talking so she reached for an apple and walked out of the house, Kakashi looked puzzled at Iruka.

"Do you not say goodbye to her in a morning?" he asked, his eyes following the girl as she closed the door.

"No, not really," Iruka mumbled, he rested his head against the table and closed his eyes.

Tsukiko decided not to do what she had the previous morning and walked straight to academy, as usual she was the first one there and it didn't bother her at all, she merely pulled out a small book with all the notes she had filled out over the past years, looking through them all, even she didn't notice that her thoughts soon swayed to the demon, even being up all night hadn't caused her to think about it, looking down at her hands she sighed and placed the book away. Placing her forehead on her crossed arms she thought about what it could mean, what it had done, and then eventually to her mother, the images of the mother she would've had, the idea that she killed herself because of her, even thinking about things that would usually cause someone of her to flood with tears did not cause any emotion. Walking towards the front of the class she pulled out a piece of paper and then moved back to her place, she drew until the second person walked into academy which was as usual Sasuke, looking at the almost complete picture of what her mother would look like she folded it and placed it in one of the many pockets in her top. Sasuke merely glanced at Tsukiko before sitting in his place and glaring at the wall, Tsukiko however kept her eyes on him in puzzlement, someone who did so well at everything someone who had also been hurt displayed such anger, an emotion that she had to learn, looking at the way his eyebrows tilted and his eyes gave a glimpse of sadness she tried to copy.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked looking up at her.

"Learning," Tsukiko mumbled, flopping down against her desk.

"Learning what exactly? "Sasuke asked in amusement.

"Anger? It's an emotion which I as a person must learn," Tsukiko said looking straight into Sasuke's eyes.

"You don't learn emotions, you just have them," Sasuke explained looking at her blank stare. "The way you're eyes are it's almost as if your soul's been eaten away at."

Tsukiko looked down and hid her eyes from view, Sasuke still kept his eyes on her trying to seek out anything that would get him to understand her better, but soon the class began to fill up with people and Tsukiko just kept her eyes down thinking, in fact the only time her eyes remotely became interested in anything was when she saw Naruto and Sasuke locking lips, staring at Naruto she rose from her seat and just as Sasuke's girls were about to finish him Tsukiko grabbed him by his collar and lifted him.

"What are you doing here?" Tsukiko stared into the blonde's eyes which were fearful. "You didn't pass therefore you shouldn't be here."

"But...I did pass, look!" He pointed up at the metal band across his head and Tsukiko looked at her own reflection in it.

"Whatever," Tsukiko said letting her eyes linger on his.

"Tsukiko put Naruto down, now! "Iruka yelled from the front of the class Tsukiko dropped him and returned to her seat with Sasuke's eyes fixed on her.

"Now, I am going to put you all in teams of three, and because of the odd number there will be a four," Iruka said grinning at the class.

"Team 7 will be made up of, Sakura Haruno,"

A girl clad all in pink, she even had pink hair smiled at Iruka.

"Naruto Uzumaki,"

Naruto punched his fist into the air grinning while Sakura was practically planning how she should die.

"Sasuke Uchiha,"

Sasuke kept his same blank face, while Sakura turned to the blonde girl behind her yelling and Naruto was in tears.

"Sensei why does someone as amazing as me have to be in a team with someone like him," Naruto yelled pointing at Sasuke.

"Well, Sasuke is the best in our class, you being the worst was paired up with him to balance the team out," Iruka said. "Oh, and you're the team of four so Tsukiko Umino your also part of team seven."


	6. Chapter 6

Sakura and Naruto face planted their desks, it was pretty obvious that Tsukiko wasn't exactly popular with her group, looking towards Sasuke she noticed the smirk on his face, even as Iruka shouted out the rest of the teams Sasuke kept the same smirk plastered to his face, eventually dinner time came and she walked towards the door only to be called back by Iruka.

"Tsukiko, i'm sorry about what you found out last night," Iruka said, Tsukiko looked down at the floor keeping her hair in between Iruka's eyes and her own.

"It doesn't really matter, I just didn't expect the lies. Here, it's a picture I drew of what I thought my mother would look like," Handing the sketch over Iruka's eyes widened, every single feature was exactly like her mothers.

"It, it looks just like her," Iruka babbled, Tsukiko looked at it.

"I still need to finish it off," Tsukiko muttered. "Someday, you are going to give me the truth, you will tell me everything, but not now, not yet, but when I ask for the truth swear you will give it me?"

"I swear Tsukiko, you deserve to know the truth," Iruka sighed sitting back down, Tsukiko moved her hair and looked at her uncle he looked very upset, another emotion she was yet to learn.

As Tsukiko stepped into the sun she noticed the rest of her team had gone off somewhere leaving her to eat lunch on her own as usual, the blazing sun caused Tsukiko to shelter under her arms as she tried to eat the fresh strawberries that she placed in her pocket, eventually she gave up and sat at her desk again and there she pulled out her drawing and continued to sketch away, through concentrating she didn't notice the Uchiha staring at her from the front of the room until she was finally happy with it. Looking up she met the onyx eyes and then she looked down, slowly folding the picture she returned it to her pocket, within 10 minutes the class was full again but this time they were all waiting to meet their sensei's. Eventually only team seven remained in the room, and it was getting extremely boring, Tsukiko sighed as Naruto put a board rubber in between the sliding door so that it would fall on whoever should open it.

"Naruto, he's a jounin, he's not going to fall for something like that," Sasuke said blandly.

"Yeah, sit down Naruto," Sakura whined in her usual voice.

The sound of footsteps coming up the hall caused all of them to avert their eyes towards the door, it opened and in popped Kakashi's head, the duster fell and covered him in chalk, Sakura and Naruto were obviously the most amused, Sasuke sat there as usual but Tsukiko was shocked that her sensei was Kakashi.

"My first thoughts on you lot, I hate you all," he said and Naruto sweatdropped.

We were all lead up to the top of academy and we sat down.

"Okay, now I would like you all to tell me about yourselves, you likes, dislikes etcetera," Kakashi said smiling behind his mask.

"You go first sensei so we know what to say," Naruto said grinning.

"Me, well my name is Kakashi Hatake, I like many things and dislike a few, my dreams for the future are for me to know, and I have lots of hobbies," Kakashi said and everyone just blinked at his very bland answer. "Now you blondie."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I love Ramen especially the ramen Iruka-sensei buys me, I dislike the thee minutes you have wait for the water to boil, my hobby is comparing different types of ramen and my dream for the future is to become Hokage."

"Okay, now you pinky,"Kakashi said un-interested.

"My name is Sakura Haruno, and the things I like, I mean the person I like, my hobbies are erm... and my dream for the future is...well," Sakura squeeled gasing at Sasuke.

"And what don't you like?" Kakashi asked bored.

"NARUTO!" she yelled causing Naruto to burst into tears, Kakashi then signalled to Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I like few things and dislike even more, my hobbies are none of your buisness and I have a dream to kill a certain someone," Sasuke said darkly, Kakash then looked at me equally as surprised that I was there.

"My name is Tsukiko Umino, I like training and walking in the rain, I dislike Naruto for the simple fact that he has caused my uncle not to love me, my hobbies are training and my dream for the future is to be recognised by my uncle and to..nevermind,"Tsukiko said and Kakashi blinked.

"Okay, training starts tomorrow, but one thing don't have any breakfast," Kakashi then left in a cloud of smoke.

"Tsukiko.." Naruto started..

"No Naruto, you leave me alone, enjoy your ramen i'm going to train," Tsukiko said walking away from the group and off to a clearing in the forest.

As she got there she gripped her kunai and flung it angrily at the target on the tree in front of her, feeling another presence she stopped.

"Kakashi what do you want," turning round he stood there looking at her.

"Tsukiko you need to calm down and stop being so angry," Kakashi said placing his hand on her shoulder.

"I dont care, I really don't just go away," she said gripping another kunai and throwing it backwards at the target hitting it perfectly.

Kakashi looked at her and gripped her arm taking her back to the village but as they walked Tsukiko noticed Iruka and Naruto eating ramen and she just ran towards the apartment, leaving Kakashi standing on his own, Tsukiko stayed in her room all that night refusing to come out, eventually falling asleep at 5 in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7

The sun came through the window and blinded the sleeping Tsukiko, she blinked several times before her eyes became used to the light, she rose of her bed and wandered into the kitchen surprised to see that Iruka had gone, she left the house without anything to eat as her sensei had said and when she got to the training ground she noticed that Sasuke was the only one there. They stood there in complete silence until the walking gob arrived…otherwise known as Naruto, he stood complaining which was when Sakura arrived and joined in with the complaining, it wasn't easy but somehow Tsukiko blocked the noise out, 2 hours later Kakashi finally arrived, Tsukiko looked up blankly surely he should have been there as early as they had arrived but now was no time to join the band of complainers.

"You see these two bells, you have to get them before the time runs out by whatever mean necessary, that means no holding back, if you do not get a bell it's straight back to academy, got it?" Tsukiko looked at Kakashi's face, she couldn't believe she had to do more work as part of the team to get to be a qualified genin.

"I got you," Naruto ran foreword immediately and Tsukiko and Sasuke sighed loudly, typical Naruto.

"I didn't even say go yet," Kakashi had caught Naruto even when reading his book, it was going to be harder than they had all first thought but they could do it if they tried hard enough.

"Okay then, GO!" Sasuke, Sakura and Tsukiko jumped away and hid far out of sight but Naruto just stood there, Kakashi was shocked at how badly they were doing but over the years he had gotten used to it, Sakura was visible on the ground and so was Sasuke in the tree and as for Naruto, well he was right in front of him. The only he couldn't see with the naked eye was Tsukiko who had hidden herself well, he grinned slightly as he had expected this was how things would turn out. When he had looked at each students files he had noted that although Tsukiko paid little attention in class she perfected everything in hope of being acknowledged however, she wasn't used to working in teams, and with the demon inside of her it meant that she didn't know how to either.

Tsukiko watched as everyone was working on their own to get a bell and ending in failure but she sat there watching all of their skills and assessing them, Sasuke moved himself next to her and looked at her questionably.

"I'm assessing everyone's movements we need to use them all effectively to be able to get the bells," Tsukiko however stared as he stood up and left, typical big headed Uchiha. Tsukiko threw a kunai in Kakashi's direction and it surprisingly cut his cheek, Tsukiko quickly jumped behind him and almost grabbed the bells when he turned and Tsukiko retreated back to the tree's, it wasn't easy without the others there, she wandered through the forest to try and find the team but by the time she had the alarm had gone, they all made their way back to Kakashi who strapped Naruto up against the log, his face showed disappointment with them all.

"You all failed but not only that you didn't understand the true point of this exercise," Kakashi looked at the four of them, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto all looked down, they weren't proud of what they had done.

"Teamwork?" Tsukiko questioned looking into Kakashi's eyes.

"Yes, you were all far too selfish, Naruto you worked on your own and blindly walked into battle, Sakura you only cared about what was happening to Sasuke instead of helping the whole group, Sasuke you refused to work together in thinking it would hold you back and Tsukiko you sat back and watched," Kakashi could feel Tsukiko's chakra slightly going wild.

"I was observing how the team fought so that we could come up with a plan to get them," Tsukiko pointed out as she sat down on the floor.

"I don't care, I will not fail," Sasuke charged at Kakashi who cleanly caught him and stood on his head.

"Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke and Tsukiko will die," Sakura looked up panicking as she looked at her team. "Those are the kind of things you will go through on missions, now I will give you one more chance after you have eaten but you aren't aloud to feed Naruto." Naruto's head sunk and his stomach rumbled.

As soon as Kakashi had gone Tsukiko started to eat her food and was surprised when Sakura and Sasuke started offering their food to Naruto, no sooner had they done so Kakashi was back and he looked angry.

"You did exactly what I told you not to do," he said, his voice growled as he spoke.

"But we cannot fight if one of us hasn't eaten," Tsukiko said standing up. "We need Naruto to be in good health."

Kakashi smiled at Tsukiko, " You pass."

Sakura brightened up, as did the rest of the team who soon began to walk away, but Tsukiko stayed and undid the rope holding Naruto to the stump.

"Thanks Tsukiko," he said happily. "We're going to be ninja's."

"We really are Naruto."


	8. Chapter 8

Team 7 had been Genins for a few weeks and so far they had been weed picking, dog walking, cleaned a barn, saved a cat, located a lost toy and many other simple missions, every time they went on a mission Naruto would comment on how it wasn't helping him on his way to become a ninja, Sakura would argue with him and Sasuke would stand there shaking his head, Tsukiko however got on with every mission without question and Kakashi could clearly see the contrast between personalities in his team. That day they had to find a cat by the name or Tora which belong to a Madam Shijimi, all three stood behind some tree's as the cat passed overhead, it landed in the clearing ahead and Sasuke notified their sensei, finally Naruto leapt onto the cat and grabbed it, Sakura watched amused at how the cat was trying to get out of his arms, arriving back at the Hokage's office the team returned the cat to its owner and they all stared as the cat was smothered by it's owner, a very large lady.

"No wonder it ran away," Naruto muttered, Tsukiko looked down at him and nodded agreeing with him and then focussed on the Hokage who was telling them about the other missions they could complete.

"There is some other missions you could complete there is babysitting for Yojyu-sama's son and there's grocery shopping that needs doing for …"

"No, no, no, no, no, we want a proper mission not stupid chores," Naruto blurted out causing Tsukiko to look at him.

"Naruto, we have only just been made genin we can't expect to be sent straight into C or above mission, be patient," Tsukiko said calmly.

"She's right Naruto, you have to wait until you have honed your skills, then you can go out and do more dangerous missions," Iruka said looking at him sternly, it was obvious that he didn't approve of people shouting at the Hokage.

"Come on, let us do a proper mission, please," Naruto begged looking the Hokage with watery eyes.

"Tell you what, I do have a C rank escort mission, I need to take a bridge builder back to the land of waves, this is who you will be escorting," the Hokage said as the doors to the left opened revealing an old man.

"Are you kidding me, you're letting these brats take me home they couldn't handle this mission especially not the funny looking short one," the man said holding his bottle of sake.

"Hey, whose he calling funny looking," Naruto said laughing until his team all stood around him, Sasuke was the tallest, then Tsukiko, Sakura and then finally Naruto, realising this Naruto began shouting at the man causing the team to sigh.

The team made their way through the village until they reached the gates, the whole time getting there Naruto and the bridge builder Tazuna were arguing about ninja's and his age, Naruto's height and many other pointless reasons, Sasuke did his best to ignore them but he butted in a few times when he didn't agree with something Tazuna had said, Sakura kept yelling at Naruto but Tsukiko yet again kept her mouth shut and focussed on the mission at hand.

"Hey you, quiet one," Tazuna said.

"Yes Mr. Tazuna," Tsukiko replied politely stopping to look at him.

"Why are you being so quiet kid?" Tazuna asked moving to walk next to her.

"My focus is on the mission at hand, I am merely thinking of what this mission includes and thinking out any possible problems we could face," Tsukiko's answer caused the group to stop completely.

"Tsukiko, this is merely a C rank mission there isn't going to be anything too dangerous that you all can't handle," Kakashi said looking down at her, which caused her to lower her head.

"It doesn't matter on the rank, certain things could change our mission, I just wanted to make sure I was prepared," Tsukiko replied and she continued to walk.

"The kid's right, you ninja's should be ready for anything," Tazuna took it as a chance to dig into the team again.

"Mr. Tazuna is there anything else we should be aware of on this mission?" Tsukiko questioned.

"No, just a standard escort mission," Tazuna replied, Tsukiko walked ahead of the others with Kakashi behind her, his eyes stared at her until they reached the gates of the village.

"Okay team, it's time for your first C rank mission," Kakashi smiled brightly at the team and Naruto ran out of the gates.

"Okay, lets GO!" Sakura stared at Naruto after his outburst.

"Naruto, was there really any need?" Kakashi asked his head in palm.

"This is the first time I've ever been out of the village," Naruto replied grinning happily.

"Great, that makes me feel much better," Tazuna said, the time was occupied by Sakura asking the man questions about different ninja's and life in his village, Tsukiko stared around them all she saw were tree's and tree's and nice little puddle on the road otherwise everything was very boring.

"Get down!" Tsukiko heard Kakashi yell, she fell to the floor and looked up to see two ninja's attack their sensei and kill him, causing his blood to fall over the pair's weapons. Sakura jumped in front of Tazuna in an attempt to stop him getting attacked, Tsukiko thought about how lucky it was that she had decided to prepare herself before hand for an event like such. Naruto boldly went to attack the two ninja, they gripped him and flung him off to one side and immediately turned their attention to him, Tsukiko quickly ran to Naruto and pulled him out of the way but the two ninja's didn't change the direction in which they were fighting as they took another swing for Naruto but Tsukiko got in the way causing their weapons to slice across her arm and cut Naruto's hand. Sasuke fought back against the two eventually taking their weapons away, but the two didn't stop they made their way over to Tazuna only to have their way blocked by Sasuke and then surprisingly Kakashi jumped in the way and fended the two off, the teams eyes looked up at him admiring his skill. Kakashi tied the two up and the team gathered around them.

"These are two chunin from the Mist village known as the Demon Brothers, I wanted to see who they were aiming for and I wasn't surprised when they came to attack you Tazuna, so I suggest you tell us why you have ninja such as these after you and you only asked for a C rank mission?" Kakashi questioned. "These are only genin ninja and they cannot help on a B rank mission, I suggest we take you back to the village and pick a group that can handle this."

"Kakashi sensei is right, we cannot help on a mission this dangerous," Sakura said looking to the floor.

"That's not ninja talk, we can and will complete this mission we were given this and we should be ready for things such as this, this is the chance our teams been looking for to prove who we are," Tsukiko said looking into Sakura's eyes causing her to flinch and move away.

"She's right, we have to continue, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I will not fail this mission," Naruto grabbed a kunai and plunged it into his already poisoned hand, Kakashi grinned at Naruto and began to speak however Tsukiko zoned out as the poison in her arm stung but as Sasuke questioned her she assured him that she was fine.


	9. Chapter 9

The group sat together in a boat as they made there way to the destination, Tsukiko paid little attention to the rest of the group and instead stared into the mist full of thought, she wanted to do well on the mission she yearned for recognition and yet doubted she would get any. Her only hope was that she would prove her worth to the team and make her way up the ranks, maybe even beat Naruto to Hokage, she smiled lightly to herself thinking about this only to be brought out of such thoughts.

"You know this team would become even better if you paid attention Tsukiko," Kakashi said looking at her, Tsukiko looked back at him and then fully turned herself around.

"Sorry sensei," Kakashi looked at her trying to read her eyes but had no look, simple to say he was surprised at her apology over the many years he had known her never had she apologised.

Eventually the group reached the land of waves, the place was large and you could clearly see the construction of a bridge, which she presumed, was one that Tazuna was building, the rest of the group stared in awe at it.

"Tazuna before we leave this boat, there's something we need to know, who were those men before and why were they after you?" Kakashi asked causing the entire group to look over at him.

"Well an extremely terrible man is after me, a man by the name of Gatoh," Tazuna explained his story which all became rather complicated for Naruto who started at him as dumb as ever.

Eventually the group got off the boat and started to make their way towards Tazuna's home, no sooner had they walked for ten minutes the rivalry between Sasuke and Naruto had started with the pair trying to walk faster than each other causing Sakura to roll her eyes at this.

"THERE!" Naruto shouted out causing the group to stare at him as he threw a kunai randomly at a bush obviously as a way of showing off.

"Stop showing off," Sakura yelled causing Tsukiko to plug her ears.

"I see someone hiding over there, no over there," Naruto yelled throwing kunai wildly around causing Tsukiko to have to duck, the group walked over to the bushes to see a rather startled rabbit.

"You idiot," Tsukiko stated causing Naruto to twitch and look at her.

"What did you just call me!" Naruto yelled before making his way over to the rabbit, Tsukiko sighed staring at Naruto as he tried nursing it out of shock.

"Everybody duck!" Kakashi yelled startling them all, Naruto didn't move and so Tsukiko jumped at him forcing him down.

A giant sword spun around eventually embedding itself in a tree upon which a ninja stood on, his face covered in bandages with an evil glint in his eye, obviously one of the men after Tazuna. Kakashi referred to him as Zabuza an exiled ninja from the hidden mist, Naruto looked raring to run foreword only for Kakashi's hand to go out to tell them not to.

"But why sensei?" Naruto whined.

"He's in a different league to those other two," Kakashi replied the entire group kept their eyes on Zabuza, Kakashi's hand gripped his headband ready to pull it away.

"Ah yes, Kakashi the Sharingan user," Zabuza's words seemed to affect Sasuke in some way as he stared Kakashi's way the rest of the group remained confused but Kakashi didn't answer their questions.

"Stick to your formation and protect Tazuna and do not join this battle."

The surrounding area all of a sudden became foggy and you couldn't see anything even your own hand in front of your face, Tsukiko began to be confused as to what to actually do in such a situation but she stuck to Kakashi's word and stayed in formation.

"When I was an assassin it had your name in the bingo book, it told me everything about your Sharingan and how no one has ever fought it and lived," Zabuza's voice could be heard.

The group jumped back to protect Tazuna, leaving Kakashi on his own to fight Zabuza, Zabuza had lightning speed as he pulled the sword away from the tree and left where he was once stood and reappeared on top of water. He created a jutsu that made the fog increase creating complete blindness in the area useful against the Sharingan.

"He's gone!" Sakura stated.

"Zabuza is well known for his silent killing technique, as you can imagine the enemy becomes blind and he is free to pick them off," Kakashi said.

The group instinctively moved closer to Tazuna as a voice rung out in the cold harsh mist causing them to shudder.

"Eight points, the larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney and heart, now which organ do you want to get struck at," Zabuza's voice said spooking the group out, Kakashi used a jutsu shifting all the fog away from them as it moved Tsukiko couldn't help but notice the spooked look on Sasuke's face.

"Don't worry I will protect you four with my life," Kakashi said and the group believed him.

Suddenly at that moment the group felt Zabuza's presence he had jumped between the group and Tazuna causing great shock for them all, however Kakashi jumped in to save them only to find out it was a water clone.

"Sensei look out," Naruto yelled as another Zabuza showed up behind him he swung his sword splitting Kakashi in two only for Kakashi too to be a water clone this caused great shock to Zabuza who clearly hadn't been expecting it, at this point Kakashi pulled a kunai out holding it at Zabuza's neck causing the group to feel a weight lifted.


	10. Chapter 10

The entire team seemed to be overjoyed at the fact that Kakashi seemed to have the upper hand at that point, inside Tsukiko was wishing that everyone would realise that anything could change rather quickly at a time like this, as Zabuza began to laugh Tsukiko knew this wasn't the end and the entire team became tense again. Tsukiko watched as Kakashi and Zabuza talked between them each one trying to unnerve the other, looking down she caught sight of her hand, the poison from their last battle was clearly beginning to take effect which she knew wouldn't be good.

"Tsukiko," Sakura said lightly to her team mate, Tsukiko looked up at her and noticed her eyes lay upon her hand.

"Kakashi sensei," Sakura yelled across to him causing Tsukiko to become angry at her.

"What is it Sakura?" Kakashi was still trying to hold his own against Zabuza at this point.

"It's Tsukiko her hand is badly poisoned," Sakura looked back at Tsukiko who was hastily trying to hide it.

"I know, but there's nothing I can do at this moment," Kakashi turned around as an attempt to get Zabuza who yet again jumped towards Tazuna knocking Tsukiko in the process who fell to the floor not really knowing what was happening.

Her body felt light and yet painful as she tried to stand up only to feel a sharp pain in her back and then nothing, her eyes opened lightly but all she could see was a blur of movement and nothing else, a hand kept covering her forehead checking a temperature she presumed and then it disappeared.

"Tsukiko!"

She sat bolt upright staring wide eyed at Naruto who was right up in her face causing her to push him to one side giving Sakura the change to pummel him to the ground.

"Idiot Kakashi said to let her rest," Sakura looked over as Tsukiko sympathetically. "How are you feeling?"

"Erm…very strange," Tsukiko looked down at her bandaged arm and noticed that through her skin she could see almost black coloured veins.

"You were in a lot of trouble there if we hadn't found Tazuna's daughter you could have died," Sakura said sitting down.

"So what did I miss?"

"Well after you went down Zabuza leapt towards you and nearly chopped you in two although you do have a bit of a nasty scar, and then basically we thought Zabuza was dead until Kakashi told us that he had been saved by an ANBU ninja," Sakura explained.

"Wow I missed a lot," Tsukiko tried her best to stand up with the help of Sakura.

"Hey I can help," Naruto yelled.

"Don't even think about it," Tsukiko mumbled his way still feeling tired, it took a while but eventually Tsukiko was sat at the table with the rest of Tazuna's family and Kakashi who had finally joined them.

"So are you feeling any better?" Kakashi asked.

"I guess so, still feel a bit strange," Tsukiko admitted looking down at her noodles.

"You will do we couldn't remove all of the poison but it will eventually be out of the system, however next time Tsukiko tell us if you get injured that badly okay?" Tsukiko nodded and then began to eat.

"She did kind of," everyone looked over at Sasuke. "I mean I saw it but I just didn't do anything."

"Sasuke you idiot she could have died," Naruto yelled across the table.

"You know Naruto SHE is here, and besides I told him to keep quiet okay and maybe you should do the same," Tsukiko's empty eyes caused Naruto to gulp before she got up from the table.

"Tsukiko you won't make it up those stairs," Sakura warned.

"I'm not going upstairs I'm getting some air."

"Tsukiko-"Kakashi started but the door slammed shut.

"What is that girl's problem?" Tazuna said looking down at his half eaten food.

"Tsukiko well, she's just confused I guess, no one really knows what goes on in her head just all we know is a lot and she had no one really to speak to," Kakashi explained. "But that's all I can really say it's not my place you see."

Tazuna nodded and Naruto just stared at the door glaring at it and wishing Tsukiko knew he was glaring at her, which unfortunately she did, peering in through the window she had heard Kakashi and seen Naruto and so she just walked away from the house and sat down. She looked in her kunai pouch and found her now crumpled picture of her uncle and she sighed, it was the first time she'd truly been away from home and she didn't enjoy it, as lonely as she felt at home it was nothing compared to being in a completely different village.

"Hey," a voice spoke; Tsukiko looked up and saw Sasuke looking back at her.

"Hey," Tsukiko replied as he sat himself down near her and looked at her.

"You know you don't need to feel alone, we're a team," Sasuke muttered.

"You should practice what you preach, like you said your goal is to kill your brother right and your problem all the way through training has been that fact that you only work for number one, yourself," Tsukiko looked back down at the picture before putting it away again.

"Well, you know we're always here if you need to get something out," Sasuke said before looking to the right, Tsukiko followed where his eyes were looking and saw Kakashi on his crutches making his way over as well.

"I didn't realise this was a party," Tsukiko said as Kakashi joined them.

"I didn't realise you had a sense of humour," Kakashi replied, he looked at her and then motioned for Sasuke to leave.

"I'm not going to baby you Tsukiko, what you did there was very dangerous and you should know that," Kakashi looked sternly at her. "Should anything happen to you that demon will come out and will fight for you and it won't know the difference between friend and foe."

"I didn't-"

"Tsukiko, think before you act," Kakashi stared at her as she sunk further against the tree.

"Yes Sensei," Tsukiko's monotone voice didn't impress Kakashi but he decided to leave it anyway.

"Don't stay out here too late," Kakashi said before turning to leave.

Tsukiko however took no notice of what he said and thought about the Demon sealed inside her and the consequences it would have and soon her thoughts carried her to a dream filled sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

(A/N: I apologise in advance for the sucky chapter I find this fight hard to write and very boring I must say, so yeah here you are and i'll be sure to update this week for sure, keep some nice reviews coming in but please don't flame)

As the sun rose in the morning Tsukiko's eyes opened slightly until eventually they opened fully as she became accustomed to the light, sitting up she soon realised she had fallen asleep outside and cursed realising how annoyed Kakashi was going to be when he realised this, she steadied herself again the tree she has slept on and slowly made her way back to the house to be greeted by Tazuna's daughter.

"Kakashi said you'd probably end up sleeping outside," her voice was filled with care and a small smile appeared on her face which seemed to fill the room with the same happiness.

"Yeah, he won't be too happy when he finds out," Tsukiko muttered, walking towards their rooms as she reached the landing she could clearly hear Naruto's loud snores and silently she slipped into hers and Sakura's room to retrieve clean clothes and then left again to get changed.

This time when she made her way downstairs she was greeted by Kakashi his eye watching her like a hawk, Tsukiko practically waited for the blow to come when he would begin the argument about the previous night however it didn't come he just sat there and slowly ate the food that had been provided for him. Within the next two hours the rest of the team was up and the group made their way to a clearing to begin some minor training, due to both Kakashi's and Tsukiko's injuries it wasn't anything strenuous just good useful techniques, this time tree climbing. As Kakashi showed the group she smiled to herself, she wasn't perfect at chakra control but she was pretty sure she could manage it, eventually the group were let free to practice and off they went, naturally Sakura reached the top first time which earned her a congratulations from Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto seemed practically hopeless at it and when Tsukiko tried she manage 2/3 of the way up before falling off.

It carried on that way for a while until Tsukiko had also managed to reach the top of her tree leaving Sasuke and Naruto to compete rather loudly with each other, the two girls just watched down Sakura giggling and Tsukiko feeling content that Naruto wasn't as great as he thought he was, eventually Kakashi dismissed the two of them leaving the pair to go back to the house.

A week had passed in the land of waves before anything else happened, Naruto still being in bed was left at the house as the rest of the group accompanied Tazuna to the bridge, however upon being there a thick fog drew up around them, Sakura and Tsukiko instantly stayed close to Tazuna as Kakashi took on Zabuza and Sasuke went up against Haku. Everything remained tense that was until a loud noise caught the attention of the entire group and the loud noise came from none other than Naruto, Naruto joined in to help Sasuke with Haku but the pair of girls stuck to Tazuna that was until a foot kicked Tsukiko and Sakura out of the way. Turning round the pair saw how close Zabuza was to the person they were supposed to protect and Tsukiko ran towards him with a kunai even though she knew she didn't have a chance, however to her surprise Sakura copied the move and both sped up towards the man however the grin on his face caused Sakura great discomfort until Kakashi got involved.

"Just protect Tazuna don't make any bold moves," Kakashi's said and no sooner had Zabuza moved there became zero visibility, Tsukiko and Sakura remained close to Tazuna and listened out for their enemy however by the sounds of things Kakashi had thing very well under control and they couldn't hear much from the two boys.

However Tsukiko felt something, it was a chakra far stronger than anything she had ever felt before and caused the hairs on her arms to stand on edge, it came from Naruto, blinking furiously she tried to see what was going on however she couldn't until she saw something she hadn't quite expected, the ninja Naruto and Sasuke had been fighting stood in front on Zabuza protecting him from Kakashi's attack. The boy slid down to the floor, dead.

Tsukiko had no idea what had happened all she knew was that the fog was starting to disappear and a large group of menacing looking men all stood ready to attack the group, Zabuza however trudged forwards and using Naruto's kunai killed them all until eventually he was laid next to Haku where he too passed away.

Tazuna smiled at the group as they reached the edge of the village, with the enemy taken care of and everyone's wounds healed they were all ready to go home, however the last parting gift he left the group was telling them that the bridge he had just built was to be named after Naruto, the big knucklehead ninja. Tsukiko looked at the large grin plastered on his face and although she felt he didn't deserve it she didn't voice the opinion, after being told what he had done and how he had saved Sasuke she figured he needed some kind of trophy to take home and brag about.

"Say Tsukiko, how about when we get back home we go to ichiraku's with Iruka?" Naruto grinned wildly at her but her face didn't change.

"I suppose," Naruto's grin however got even wider as he commented on the fact that it was the most positive thing she'd ever said to him but she chose to ignore it and tried to spend the rest of the journey home in silence.

Upon arriving in the village Naruto ran off to find Iruka and Tsukiko slowly walked behind him until a voice called for her to stop where she was.

"You know you'll eventually warm to him," Kakashi said smiling at her.

"I think that will take a long ass time," her voice showed a hint of humour to it caused him to pat her lightly on the head.

"Well I suppose you better go before Naruto eats all the ramen huh?"


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I decided to update this earlier than I was going to because of my reviews and because of the views that I got for this, so please enjoy and review just don't flame, thank you for reading!

After the excitement of their first proper mission it seemed that life had gone back to normal or so the team would have liked to think, it wasn't long before something new had arisen, the Chunin exams, Tsukiko sat at home looking over the form she had to fill out, her mind thinking about all the reasons it was best for her not to bother being part of it.

"Tsukiko?" looking up she met the eyes of her Uncle, a small smile upon his face which she returned.

"I'm not sure if I should bother," she replied honestly folding up her letter.

"Why not? You've worked hard to get where you are now you can't just give up now," Iruka sat down next to her and smiled. "Your mother would be very proud to see how far you've come now and she wouldn't want you just to give up."

"Iruka, do you really think I could do it? Become a Chunin," Tsukiko wondered.

"I believe you could get very far, you're a good ninja and people will soon realise that," Iruka stood up to leave but now before Tsukiko gave him a small one armed hug.

"Thank you."

* * *

Days passed by and the Chunin exams arrived quicker than the team had actually expected and the village was filled with many different ninja from villages Tsukiko didn't even know existed, already she had met a leaf ninja team that were all a year older than the team she was already in and already everyone seemed to want to fight Sasuke. Upon arriving in the room containing the ninja waiting for the exams the team was surprised to see the rest of the leaf genin, while the rest of the team got talking Tsukiko just stood back looking at the other ninja, the sound village lot stood out for their strange looks and the poison filled looks they shot everyone. The sand team consisted of a red head appeared quietly confident; surely it should have been the other way round.

"Tsukiko?"

Turning round she came face to face with someone she recognised from the academy as Shino, he had occasionally spoke to her and the two worked well in teams as they both preferred to be alone, Tsukiko greeted him with a short nod and then went back to gazing round the room but still she couldn't keep her eyes away from the red head, something was different about him and it made her want to find out more. Unfortunately as she looked at him his eyes met hers, both eyes blank staring into one another until Tsukiko moved her gaze away feeling furious with herself for being caught staring she had also received a strange look from the elder two in the team.

"What about Gaara?" Tsukiko heard from the group finally noticing the new addition to the group, a white haired ninja with glasses, her eyes widened when she saw a card with the red haired boy on it but no information showed up.

"Gaara," Tsukiko muttered under her breath, she allowed herself to look in his direction once more before snapping back to her group as a fight had begun to break loose.

"Sound ninja, knock it off do you want to be disqualified before we even start," the booming voice came from a man Tsukiko knew all too well, Ibiki.

"Sorry we're a little jumpy," the sound ninja replied, Ibiki then started to tell the group rules and upon finishing each ninja picked a ball out of a small bag with a number on it dictating where each ninja would sit, Tsukiko placed her hand it and rummaged straight to the bottom before pulling one out which read the number 32.

Sitting in her assigned seat she noticed Naruto was sat near a quite girl from academy, Sasuke was sat a bit further back with Sakura just behind, Tsukiko however found herself on the opposite side to her team and 2 rows behind Gaara the sand ninja, as the seats around her filled she found herself sat next to one of the leaf ninjas from the year above and the older male sand ninja. Ibiki yet again stood at the front and gave out rules about the written exam they were about to take, at the sound of it Naruto protested loudly however Tsukiko on the inside began to panic; she was no good with written tests. The stupid amount of rules were laid down and then the exam began, looking down at the questions Tsukiko stared wide eyed, how in the world was she going to know the answers to the questions, they were someone of a higher rank than she was, the proctors sat at the end of each row made her feel even worse.

After 15 minutes had passed she noticed Sakura and Sasuke had already began to write their answers and Tsukiko just looked down again until something clicked in her head, there were so many rules about not getting caught cheating so maybe that was the idea, maybe she had to cheat and just not get caught. She smiled having figured it out and then began to devise a plan for herself, she couldn't just look at the person next to hers that would be too simple but realising how little time was left she didn't have a different strategy so as the ninja next to her wrote down the results using his Byakugan she copied off his work being sure that the proctors did not notice however one was staring in her exact direction and so under the table the pressed her hands together and a small amount of fog appeared around his eyes, he threw his arms around his face trying to get rid of it and while this was going on she copied down the rest of the answers. With 10 minutes to go till the final question Tsukiko felt very proud of her and got rid of the jutsu which had caused many ninja to look in the man direction.

"Excuse me I need to go to the bathroom?" the boy next to her said, as he left she was amazed he hadn't written a thing down, the 10 minutes dwindled on and just as the final question was to be issued he reappeared placing a small tightly folded piece of paper on his female team mates desk.

"Now for question 10, if you choose to take this question and you get the answer wrong you will never be allowed to be a Chunin and may as well just give up being a ninja now, however if you decide to drop out now you will be allowed to try again next year," Ibiki stated, the entire class appeared outraged and Tsukiko stared over at Naruto knowing if anyone in the team was going to crack it would be him, however as teams began to leave she noticed his hand shakily rise in the air before slamming down on the desk, as he gave his speech Tsukiko looked at him and sighed, as much as she hated him he had spirit in him.

"Well then, those of you that are left…you pass!"

"What!" yelled the female sound ninja.

"That was the question, the whole point of this exam was to see if you could cheat without being caught proving that you can gather information by yourselves which you correctly did," Tsukiko looked towards her team and gave a small smile towards Sakura who looked over at her, even Sasuke had a small smile on his face.

"Now the second half of the exam will-"

A loud crash came from the window as a woman crashed through it and stood in front of a large sign at the front of the class.

"I'm Anko and I will be the proctor for the second exam!" her loud voice caused Tsukiko to curse under her breath at how loud the woman was being it reminded her almost of a female Naruto.

The class filed out and the team eventually regrouped and followed Anko to the location of their second exam, she stood at the gates to one of the many training areas and then stopped still and turned to them all.

"This is the forest of death, and soon you'll find out why," Anko said grinning however Naruto decided to mimic her which ended up being a bad idea as a kunai was quickly thrown in their direction cutting Naruto's cheek.

The team stared appalled at the woman and she went behind Naruto, however as the commotion ended she went back to the front of the group and discussed the rules of the exam, each team was to have a scroll either earth or heaven and the objective was to collect the other scroll from another team and take it to the centre of the forest area, they were strictly told not to open the scrolls no matter what the cost and then were each handed a form.

"These forms need to be signed saying that if you die in the exams you already knew about it before hand and cannot hold the village against it," yet again the group just stared at her before looking the their forms however everyone signed them and handed them back to her before making their way to the gate in which they would be starting on.

The group remained silent until a loud bang was heard and the gate began to open, the second part of the Chunin exams had begun.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I have to say a massive thank you to WolvesKey your review made me have a little fan girl moment and made me not doubt my story as much as usual so thank you so much! As usual keep some reviews coming in always nice to hear from you and please done flame enjoy!

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As the group leapt from the gates Tsukiko's nerves had already started to get the better of her, she didn't really want to die in the middle of a forest by someone that she didn't really know; then again she supposed it was better than a death by someone she did know. Shaking her head she concentrated forwards and on her current situation, it couldn't be that difficult to find a ninja with the other scroll and then make their way to the middle of a large forest area filled with many other ninja and pretty much all of them were better than she was, I mean she had to sneak a look at the person next to her test in order to get past the first exam what sort of ninja was she.

The group came to a halt not long after starting the exam leaving Sasuke to try and act cool as Sakura gazed at him mesmerised, Tsukiko almost wanted to throw up at the weird faces she pulled when she was seemingly imagining their marriage but it didn't take too long for the group to be back together again. Sasuke however ran towards him hitting him hard across the head, Sakura leapt back in shock and Tsukiko suspiciously let her gaze fall to Sasuke ready to attack him at any moment.

"Sasuke what do you think you're doing?" Sakura yelled.

However, no reply came for a while as he leapt at Naruto again this time kunai in hand, soon it seemed the fight was getting out of order and yet Naruto was keeping up with Sasuke, maybe he'd been doing some secret training to get back at him Tsukiko thought to herself.

"That's not the real Naruto, he has his kunai pouch on his left leg and Naruto wears it on his right," Sasuke stated, Tsukiko looked across at the fake Naruto but had to admit she never really noticed what arm Naruto fought with.

The Naruto then transformed into his real for revealing a ninja clad in cream, hair very similar in style to Kakashi only brown, his eyes glared in their direction and the three of them brought a kunai to protect themselves.

"Give up now and I won't have to hurt you," the ninja spoke eyes focussing on Sasuke. "I guess I'll take that as a no, well I guess I'll have to use some force."

Upon leaping towards them Sasuke was already using his fireball jutsu on the enemy, Sakura cleverly jumped up out of the way of the fight however Tsukiko remained in her current spot, the enemy had evaded Sasuke's attack and leapt straight for her, she blocked his attack with kunai just about but as he was about to strike again Sasuke jumped in and took the fight away. The fight was taken way into the trees and Tsukiko watched as the enemy ran away and Sasuke landed just behind her Sakura following, his eyes burning red with his Sharingan activated.

Upon finally finding Naruto the group sat down to discuss some sort of strategy, Naruto sat on the floor clearly upset about being the first person captured, in the first few minutes of rescue he muttered a lot about it having the be a girl that was captured first which just caused him pain as Sakura hit him hard in the face.

"If we get separated we can't risk trusting anyone who looks like us," Sasuke muttered.

"Right, so what's the plan?" Sakura asked.

"How about keeping Naruto on a leash?" Tsukiko answered, Naruto looked up at her trying his best to glare but she ignored it and continued to look at Sasuke waiting to hear his master plan.

"A password, so listen closely because I'm only going to say it once, first you will ask the ninja song ninki? And the answer is It is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene, there are no hideouts even in a quiet place, it is important for a ninja to know the right time, the time when the enemy is tired, and has his guard down," Sasuke finished and looked up to see a confident Sakura, a semi-confident Tsukiko and a confused Naruto.

"Can you say it one more time?" Naruto asked.

"Typical," Tsukiko commented getting up from her spot.

"What was that?" Sakura said, the group turned behind them but a large gust of wind attacked them from out of nowhere, as the group struggled to stay where they were they eventually lost each other being sent to different parts of the forest.

Tsukiko got up from the tree she had been flung into and looked around her for any sign of her team mates, which were nowhere to be seen, it suddenly hit her that she would have to find them and be cautious as their previous enemy had told them, some people were out to kill and Tsukiko on her own was an easy target for some of the teams. Her eyes darted round at the slightest sound hoping that an enemy wasn't about to pounce on her at any minute, however it seemed to be an unlucky day for as she slid up against a tree to catch her breath a rain ninja appeared in front of her, eyes lined in black and face smirking at her.

"Well what do we have here?" his question not needing an answer, Tsukiko grabbed her kunai and lunged at him but he gripped her shoulder hard and spun her away from him. "Someone like you shouldn't really be a ninja."

Tsukiko got up from where she had fallen and lunged towards him again and again she missed, her heart beat fearfully inside her chest but her eyes didn't quite show the fear she held inside, instead her enemy saw a great anger beginning to surface and this caused the smile already on his face to grow.

"Poor little ninja," the second the words left his mouth Tsukiko clasped her hands together and upon forming seals she opened her eyes and thrust her hands above her.

Leaves that had previously been naturally falling towards the earth became pointed like a kunai and fell towards the ground attacking her enemy, this time where was no escape for him and Tsukiko leapt towards him dodging her own attack and sending a kunai deep into his chest, his eyes widened in shock and Tsukiko blinked surprised by her own actions. As the ninja fell to the floor Tsukiko stayed staring at the face the begged for mercy, a face that was asking for help and yet she felt unable to her body froze there and little did she know those watching her held a similar surprise.

"You there?" Tsukiko spun round and recognised two ninja both were from Konoha yet from the year above them; one had been the person she had copied from in the first exam.

"Are you alright?" the female asked walking towards her, Tsukiko merely nodded at her until a hand was held out to her. "Tenten, and this is Neji, you're in Sasuke's group right?"

"Yeah that's right, I got split up from them a while back," Tsukiko muttered, Neji's eyes had yet to leave the dying enemy behind her.

"So what's your name?"

"Tsukiko, Tsukiko Umino."

"So, we'll take it you don't have a scroll," Neji said blandly clearly not interested in her, Tsukiko shook her head. "In that case have you seen our other team mate, the one in green?"

"No sorry, I don't suppose you've seen any of my team?" the two shook their heads before finally deciding that the three of them would stick together finding their team.

After a few hours of searching it seemed Neji had finally spotted them, leaping over the group was amazed at the sight, Lee was lay on the floor passed out, Shikamaru's team was there and majority of Tsukiko's team were also out for the count, jumping down Tsukiko leapt towards Sakura checking to see if she was okay, the blood that dripped from her mouth made her blood boil inside but Sakura weakly smiled at her, a laugh from behind her alerted her to the enemy ready to pounce. It seemed the addition of Neji and Tenten hadn't really fazed him however just as Tsukiko was about to attack she noticed Sasuke out of the corner of her eye with a strange chakra covering him and black marks beginning to crawl along his body. Distracted one of the enemies gripped her hair and tugged on it hard only for her to feel it let loose again; looking behind her Sasuke brutally began to maul the enemy. Leaping up he formed hand signs as usual to create his fireball jutsu and Tsukiko leapt away with Sakura ensuring her safety but it seemed as if Sasuke had completely lost it but without warning Sakura leapt away again and wrapped her arms around him, as this happened the marks retreated to an area on his neck.

The rest of the groups jumped down and finally returned to their own teams and Naruto had finally woken up, Tsukiko jumped down causing Sakura to glance up.

"Where were you?" her eyes seemed saddened.

"I'm not really sure, but on my way to try and find you I got attacked, afterwards Neji and Tenten ran into me and well here we are," Tsukiko said.

"What happened to the enemy?" Naruto asked also turning to look at her.

"Most probably dead," Tsukiko replied honestly only causing Naruto to turn away angrily. "It wasn't like I-"

"Save it," Naruto responded.

Tsukiko stayed silent and sat down with the group helping Sakura bandage up a few wounds she had been given in the previous fight, while helping Sakura also questioned her about it.

"I don't really know what happened, I just guess I got angry and afterwards it just seemed to have all happened in a flash and it shocked me," Sakura and Naruto stared at her taking in every word she had said and even Sasuke found himself listening in to her. "I hadn't meant for it to get that far I just acted on impulse."

Naruto nodded at her and soon the team had finally regained strength to carry on, with the two scrolls already packed away they were ready to find the tower and get ready for the final exam and with the end in sight Tsukiko seemed relieved yet still the eyes she had seen from the enemy hadn't left her mind, they seemed to be imprinted there and each time she replayed the fight she realised more ways she could have won without leaving him there to die.

"Tsukiko?"

"Leave it Naruto, I don't need you to sympathise with me I need you to leave me, I'll never understand why they put us two together in a team cause it will never work and the sooner I can be away from you the better."

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A/N: And upon finishing this it took me a while, I had to re-watch many episodes and I hope you like the hours I put into this, thank you once again for reading!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: So I know this one isn't really that good, it was difficult to write really, however I hope you like it and thank you to all those that have favourite and alerted this!

"So we have around 25 hours to get to the tower," Sasuke concluded, the group was sat by the edge of a river trying to figure out which direction the tower would be in, Tsukiko and Naruto hadn't spoken to each other since her outburst before and even Sakura held a bit of sympathy for him but Tsukiko just ignored it and as Sasuke went off for some water she merely placed her feet into the river herself.

Upon Sasuke's return he was accompanied by the grey haired glasses guy they had met before the first exam, he had agreed to lead them to the tower which filled the team with excitement, finally they were off in the right direction and just as the tower came into sight they said their goodbyes to the team, upon ending up inside though they hit a small problem. They had no idea what to do, as per usual Sasuke and Sakura took their time to figure it out until it hit Tsukiko, they had to open both the scrolls!

"Quick, Sasuke you take one scroll, and I'll take the other we'll open them at the same time and throw them over there," Tsukiko ordered, Sasuke looked unsure but the two of them got ready and upon the scrolls landing Iruka was stood there in front of them.

"Congratulations, you pass!"

Tsukiko pretty much ignored Iruka as he continued to talk to Naruto excitedly, and followed the rest of her team into the main part of the tower inside there were many ninja that had of course passed the second exam and much to her surprise there stood the ninja she had apparently 'killed'.

"What is it Tsukiko?" Sakura whispered and she pointed the ninja out.

"That's the guy I fought against yet he doesn't have a scratch on him," Tsukiko said staring at him.

"Maybe his team found him."

"I suppose so, it's just strange at least it mean Naruto can't go off and tell Iruka about it," Tsukiko watched as Iruka turned away and left without even a word said to her, so she just turned around and joined the other ninja lining up before the Hokage.

As the rules were read out and the exam finalised the team however stayed preoccupied with Sasuke's wellbeing which of course caused him to snap at the group, staying silent they all allowed themselves to glance over at him even Kakashi had noticed the looks he was getting.

"Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado," as the words were shouted out the teams moved away to watch the teams fight, however upon leaving the arena Tsukiko was surprised to see her Uncle waiting for her.

"I'm so glad you made it through," Iruka admitted smiling at her. "I really am proud of you."

"Thank you," Tsukiko murmured unsure of how to react towards him however a hand fell on her head and messed her hair up.

"Good luck!"

Tsukiko walked back up to join her team and saw Sasuke's match already in progress, Naruto already appeared restless wanting his match to be over and done with, Sakura was hitting him over the head as per usual and Tsukiko just settled into a seat away from the edge, sure she hoped Sasuke did alright however, she was more concerned on her own match and hoping she did alright. A cheer came from the team and she knew that Sasuke had won but Kakashi disappeared with him before they could congratulate him and Tsukiko presumed it was to do with the mark on his neck and whatever had caused it.

"Zaku Abumi vs. Shino Aburame!"

Upon hearing her friends' name she smiled and leisurely walked towards the edge to watch his match, Naruto however stood there staring at her.

"Say Tsukiko how did you and Shino even become friends?"

"Well from day one at academy I was made to sit next to him, and I guess we both like our quiet times," Tsukiko answered watching as Zaku's arm blew up. "We think alike and we weren't exactly wanted by the rest of the class."

As more and more matches went by Naruto was sat fingers crossed hoping for his to come up, however as Shikamaru wiped the floor with his opponent Tsukiko was amazed to see her name finally appearing on the screen before them.

"Tsukiko Umino vs. Aroisuke Megumi!"

Looking down Tsukiko recognised him immediately, it was the same person she fought against in the forest, his eyes flashed up to her and again the same smirk came to his face, Tsukiko made her way down and stood in front of him waiting for their match to begin.

"If you think what you saw in the forest was my full potential you're all wrong," he grinned.

"I think I should be saying the same to you."

As the match began both ninja waited for the other to start, eventually Aroisuke ran towards her kunai in hand which Tsukiko blocked with her own, leaping back he clasped his hands together and let a screech travel from his mouth causing her to fall to the floor protecting her ears.

"You see, back in the village I'm one of few people able to reach frequencies to talk to animals in the sea, comes in quite useful," he said smugly as Tsukiko got back to her feet.

Leaping in the air Tsukiko formed 3 hand signs before closing her eyes, the ground shook beneath her enemies feet and he stared down waiting to see what would come out which happened to be a large root, falling to the ground Tsukiko looked across to her enemy who didn't look slightly fazed however as he tried to run towards her to root swung for him smashing him against the wall of the arena with force.

"Hey Kakashi, since when could Tsukiko use moves like that?" Naruto asked amazed.

"Since she was quite young, her obsession with wanting to know her element caused Iruka to teach her early, as soon as he realised her element was earth he tried teaching her small things but with enough chakra put into it, she can create things such as that before you, however her jutsu's are pretty weak and easy to dispel."

Tsukiko stared at the root now embedded with many different weapons and now lay dying on the floor, she spent too much time concentrating on that so her enemy took the chance to attack from behind causing her to wall forwards, kunai embedded in her back, quickly she leapt back and threw shuriken stars towards him each one missing but a grin appeared on her face and my simply moving back the stars attacked from behind. Droplets of blood fell from her enemies mouth and a slight smile hit her face but it wasn't over, Aroisuke's anger got the better of him and he leapt towards her foolishly panicking Tsukiko gripped a kunai to defend herself and a large gasp from the crowd made her open her eyes to see that he had ran straight into the kunai in her hand. Blood fell onto her and made her stare into his eyes, this time however it was for good as he fell to the floor his eyes became dull and eventually he lay there lifeless. Tsukiko didn't want to move from the spot but Kakashi jumped down to usher her away, as they left the arena he knelt down in front of her.

"Don't worry that wasn't your fault okay? Just try not to think about it and instead think about the fact that you're through, I'm amazed by that jutsu of yours, needs practice but still I'm amazed," Kakashi said trying to cheer her up.

"When he screamed I heard it, like a voice in the back of my mind," Kakashi stared widely at her. "His chakra caused that root to move, not me."

"Tsukiko-"

"Kakashi, I've felt it before at the land of waves, when the nine tails came out briefly," Tsukiko looked up at her sensei.

"Don't worry about it, before the finals we'll find someone to train you and help you along," Tsukiko nodded at him and the pair continued up to the team, once up there a medical nin sat down with her and healed her wounds, unfortunately this meant she had missed Naruto's fight but the final fight was one she had looked forward to, finally she would see Gaara fight.

Tsukiko stared at Lee and he prepared himself against Gaara, he however looked calm and as if nothing was going to hurt him at all, and as the fight raged on she saw why he was stronger than anyone she had ever seen even stronger than Sasuke, but the power that he held seemed to control him. Lee however was still fighting back up until the last minute until the sand that Gaara controlled folded over his body and began to crush it, everyone stared at him, many scared and it ended up with their sensei's to have to jump down to stop Gaara actually killing the boy.

The end of the preliminary exams marked a month of preparation for the finals in which Tsukiko had found out she would be facing one of the sand ninja Kankuro, she knew that the ninja were not to be messed with and that she would have to train harder than ever if she was going to be recognised and become a Chunin. Around 3 days passed before her training started, Tsukiko met up with Kakashi in front of the ANBU training centre and was surprised to see a male dressed in ANBU gear before her.

"Tsukiko this is the person who will be training you for the next month, his code name is Hawk so please use that at all times, he also controls the same element as you so good luck!"

Tsukiko stared at the person that was going to train her, he motioned for her to follow him which she did and the pair ended up at one of the many training grounds where there stood her Uncle much to her surprise.

"Iruka? Why are you here?"

"Kakashi told me about your Demon Tsukiko, so we are here to see if we can strengthen the seal without stopping the flow of chakra, once we're done you'll begin your actual training, and unfortunately this will be slightly painful," Iruka began to walk towards her causing her to instantly walk backwards away from him.

Unfortunately she had forgotten about the ANBU ninja who gripped her tightly and once the two had swapped places the ANBU's hand thrust into her chest causing her to scream loudly in pain, upon the completion Iruka stared at the tears that now soaked her shirt and her eyes that stayed dull and lifeless. Turning away from her he said goodbye to the ninja and left leaving Tsukiko to fall to the ground, the ANBU quickly lifted her up and took her back to the hospital knowing that in 2 days the real training could begin.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: I know it's been a while and I've owed this chapter for so long but I've been trying to get all my college work done recently, anyways I apologise if the chapter isn't too good but please no flames and thank you to Uzukaze no Arashi who had helped me with my jutsu's!

Tsukiko waited for the sun to rise, today was the day she had been waiting for, the finals of the Chunin exams, where at the end of the day there would be new Chunin running around, her training over the past month had made her surprisingly stronger, with all new jutsu ready to unleash on the sand ninja. Sighing she gave up waiting and swung her legs over the side of her bed walking to her wardrobe to change, not only had she acquired new skills but a new outfit that allowed her more movement and helped her new found style. Once changed she left her room seating herself at the table awaiting Iruka to wake up and wish her luck, the past month had been a surprisingly eventful one, the match between Lee and Gaara had ended with Lee no longer being able to continue on as a ninja and unfortunately when the team were visiting at the hospital Gaara returned to Lee's room.

Tsukiko found herself curious about him, she wanted to know more about him and why he always seemed so different from anyone else she had met, sure she had only known him about a month and hadn't spoken to him but she couldn't help but want to know more.

_"Why do you want to kill him so badly?" Tsukiko stared at Gaara's back as he made his leave from the hospital; he turned slightly to look at her before continuing to walk away._

_"Why does him living or dying bother you, that is what life is full of" his statement made her follow him not content with the answer he had given._

_"Who says you can make that decision, the decision of taking life or letting him live, no one should be allowed to make that choice," Tsukiko's voice remained at the same level but everything she said seemed to carry her curiosity with it._

_Gaara stopped and turned to her making her stop a couple of steps behind him, as he turned she looked into his eyes trying to find anything she could learn about him but his eyes held nothing that she could grasp onto, however she didn't notice that he too was going through the same thoughts in his mind. Curious as to why she followed him, why she was asking him questions and more importantly to him why she didn't seem to be afraid after everything she had seen him do, what was it that she wanted from him. However before anything else could be said he left, the sand slowly twisted around him and her eyes watched him, not in amazement or in awe but just watched blankly and soon he too found himself wanting to know more about her._

Upon the sound on movement Tsukiko looked towards her uncle's room as he left it smiling at her softly, he sat himself down next to her and then they sat in silence, Tsukiko looked over him his eyes seemed to be full of worry and it bothered her more than anything else.

"Iruka, are you worried about today?" Iruka looked over at her and then sighed.

"Of course I am, you're going up against someone from the sand village, you've already seen from the preliminaries just how strong they are, I don't want anything to happen to you," Iruka looked down at the table before reaching for an apple from the bowl in front of him.

"My training will help me, besides I think if it got too much I would just give in anyway," Tsukiko lied hoping it to make him happier, which seemed to have worked as a small smile played on his lips.

"You best do me proud out there," he smiled brightly at her and it seemed to make her feel better, after all the years of not feeling wanted by him, maybe this was the changing point for it all.

As the remaining few hours drifted by Tsukiko made her way towards the arena just in time for the opening ceremony which she paid little attention to, her eyes stayed hooked on her opponent Kankuro, she already knew he was a puppet master and presumed he used poisons quite effectively too, all she needed to do was stick close to Kankuro and away from the puppets. Her eyes then fell to her own team, which currently were missing she was just stood there on her own, up in the stands she saw Sakura and frowned to herself until she heard a loud crash behind her, Naruto fell to the floor and the only person that seemed willing to help him up was Shikamaru.

"Trust Naruto to show himself up on today of all days," Tsukiko mumbled under her breath, finally Naruto stood beside her, trademark smile plastered on his face.

"Good luck Tsukiko I know you can do it!" he yelled enthusiastically.

"Yeah…good luck to you too Naruto."

As the rules were read out Tsukiko kept her eyes on the floor her mind focussing on everything she had been taught making sure she didn't forget any hand signs, didn't forget how much chakra she needed and that she didn't forget that her opponent would happily kill her if he had the chance.

"The first match is Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuuga," the crowds began to cheer and Tsukiko left the arena, she didn't like the fact that neither Sasuke nor Kakashi were there, especially on the day of the finals, maybe Kakashi really had forgotten that there were other team members besides the Uchiha. Tsukiko watched Naruto's match closely inside wishing he would win to show him a lesson, although she didn't know much about the Hyuuga clan the way that Neji had treated Hinata in the first exam seemed out of order especially for someone related.

"Good luck in our match you're going to need it," Kankuro said walking past her, Gaara stood next to him and Temari on the far side of Gaara, the entire group seemed to come to a halt at his words.

"I don't need your luck to win," Tsukiko said turning to them.

"Oh really what makes you so sure of that, last time I checked you won your first round because you got lucky not because you had any actual skill."

"That's enough Kankuro," Temari said trying to pull him along.

"Yeah and last time I checked you were a little too old for dolls," Tsukiko replied, she didn't like his tone and the excitement of fighting him, of wiping that smirk off his face bubbled up inside her, maybe he would end up like the first one, cold and dead at her hands. Immediately Tsukiko clutched her head tightly, those thoughts weren't hers, she didn't think like that, softly she muttered under her breath not caring that the Sand ninja's had noticed however upon looking up they were gone and the only eyes watching her were Gaara's.

Looking back down again she saw Naruto's winning strike and she felt happy for him, he deserved to show him what a real ninja was and how to treat those around you, as the two left the field Tsukiko knew the next fight was the one most people had turned up to see, the match between Gaara and Sasuke however, as of Sasuke's disappearance she wondered if the match would still go ahead. However it was decided that it would now go onto the next match, that being herself and Kankuro, her eyes flickered down to him and she noticed the hurried discussion going on between him and his team.

"You shouldn't do the match you don't want to show them anything new," Temari warned, her eyes looking over at Tsukiko.

"I don't care, it's not going to be hard just you watch," Kankuro jumped over the ledge and grinned up at her. "Aren't you coming?"

Tsukiko jumped down from where she was stood into the arena and stared at her opponent, this was her chance to make a difference to show that she should become a Chunin, as the proctor designated that the match had begun both of them stood looking at each other, they knew the basics of each other's skills and it seemed neither one wanted to make the first move.

Suddenly Kankuro wasted no time and brought his puppet for life, she leapt out the way of the first attack before noting Kankuro coming up from behind her, he was using himself too, she leapt into the air sending a kunai at him but he chuckled expertly dodging it.

"Tsukiko, to become a Chunin you need to stop acting like those knives are your only weapon," he smirked as senbon needles shot at her from behind, again she leapt up but this time she performed seals.

"Woodland impalement jutsu!" the ground began to shake as roots, leaves and bits of wood flew up in the air around her forming a large thorny whip which was sent straight towards Kankuro who leapt away from it however one of the thorns scraped his arm and he growled loudly under his breath.

His puppet flung towards her from behind and she leapt onto the long vine running along it before dispelling the jutsu and falling right above him, the kunai she had caught now aimed at his cheek and his eyes widened he knew she was aiming to get as close to him as possible, however the spark of fear in his eyes was replaced by amusement.

"Ahh!" Tsukiko looked down and noted the puppets weapon now embedded in her side, she hadn't been watching her surroundings, however instead of removing it she leapt off and watched her opponent from afar, she didn't know what his strategy was at that moment but she needed to keep a look out.


End file.
